Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-05-07


R: WASHINGTON, d.
THE TEMPLE OF TIME.
How the Clock ut the Naval Observatory
is Kept Straight.
| SERVING TIME OUT By TILEGRAPH-rHB oRACuLA1
| cLocK-How ASTRONOMERS SIT THE Sun RIGHT
OBSERVING THE sTARs-THR WAY THE w0RI1
LEARNS THE TINE OF DAY.
Father Time, with his hoary locks and scan'
ra1ment, his scythe and his hour-glass still doe
] DUTY as symbol In allegory, but as matter OF
| fact, he is far behind the time II one was to de-
sign figure now to represent the genius presiding
over time, it should be that OF astronomer with
skull cap and Norfolk jacket, sider1al clock, 9
| transit Instrument . chronOgraph and tele
| graphic switchboard all OF which, except, per.
haps the skull cap, are too new to cut good figure
in poetry or alegory. In course OF centuries per.
| haps the chronograph and the nineteenth century
| chronometer may become as ld-fashioned as the
hour-glass the sun-dtal and the water-clock, and
then be found only In allegorica pictures poetic
| figures. But at present the American people have
to content themselves with these instruments for
noting and measuring time and with the electric
eating 1t. 1t is calculated that 1t takes q whole
second for the electric spark to travel GOO miles
and occasion might arise In the increasing compl:
cation Of human affairs where that second would
be matter OF serious importance to business
man.
WHERE TIE TIME rs SERVED OUT.
The place where time, If not made is served out
by the Government, sent abroad over the country
and put up in packages, warranted to keep fresh
for use on shipboard is at the Naval Observatory
IN this city. One wing OF that venerable looking
building, lifting up its white dome like the bald
QcaQ OF some OLD sage. Is given TO the Of1C0S-
and the instrument rooms devoted to the time SER
vice. The gentlemen who keep track Of the intn-
cate affairs and calculations OF this service are
not venerable old philosophers in long cloaks or
gaberdines. but trim looking, and. as general
hey are mot an aat that or
so well has dealt gently with them. There are
rooms with desks and plgeonholes and nlecases,
clerks Office in one Of the civil departments.
But the papers the gentlemen work upon
contain rows offigures, with plus and minus signs
cal puzzles that look very tedious These repre-
sent the bitter shell that has to be gnawed through
TO get at the sweet kernel OF correct time. The
man down town who has a good watch, of which he
is accustomed to brag, may remark as he pulls
out the said watch from its fob: "Whats the OF
an TINS? II Uncle Sam wants to know the time
lost second In six months"
WATCHES AND xENDAC1TY.
A STAR reporter ventured some such remark to
one Of the naval Officers at which he uttered de-
cided "humph!" and then proceeded to remark:
81 believe watches have made more good men go
church-going men Into falsi1ers, than any other
cause, not even excepting fishing. Give man a
away: There never was a watch or a clock that
would not gain or lose time, not even clocks made
with the greatest care and mathematical accu-
racy like those used in the observatory"
Many men are wont to compare their supposed
infallible watches with the sun. NOW, as matter
OF fact, astronomers long ago discarded the SUN as
70 moo ourHo Of
has habit of being little slow during a part of
the year. and little fast at other seasons, an IT.
regularity due to the eccentricity OF the esrth's
orbit and the oblquty Of the eclptic. AS the sun,
however, is regular in its Irregularities the as
trOnomers can always find out the true time by
allowing for the known amount Of waywardness
or error In this lumnary which has so long served
popularity as model Of punctuality. The astrOno-
mer goes at once to the court Of last resort to get
court in which the myriadS of stars sit nightly in
Judgment. Sometimes, however, in cloudy sea-
sons, when night after night passes without q
the sun. High noon or meridian is supposed to be
the instant the sun crosses or is fun upon the
meridian.
THE "MEAN" SUN.
But the astronomer does not regard the actual
sun. He has an imaginary sun that he calls the
"mean" sun, which is as regular in its movement
as the stars, and hence Is sometimes In advance
and sometimes behind the true sun, sometimes as
much as fifteen minutes and four times year be-
Ing totally ecupSed by the real sun. The time that
is told by the real sun Is known to be incorrect,
except on the four occasions annually, when its
Rostlon colncldeS wtn tnat OF the mean sun, and
genuine time, measured by the imaginary sun is
called ''mean time" The apparatus for noting
and keeping track OF the time f1lls considerable
space at the Observatory. 1t is sort OF sacred
place; for an awkward and careless person ad-
m1tted to this temple OF time might do damage to
out all the clocks in the United States before
things could be made right again. There is
the great clock x, which is mounted like
granite block or post. Tnis granite
pillar has its foundation deep in the earth. The
and mot1onless stone and are entirely indepens,
dent OF their wooden case or cover. No heavy foot
tread In the building, no rumbling cart in the road
outside, nothing short OF an earthquake would dis
turb the mOttOnless and serene dignity of this
oracular clock This clock is adjusted to tell Wash
idian. There two other clocks, solemnfy mount
ed like Sir Oracle on granite posts, and which
set to standard time. These clocks are connected
with the telegraph lines that send the time at noon
all over the country, ring the hre-alarm bells In
this city, regulate three hundred clocks In the
Government buildings In this city and at the same
instant drop time balls on tall buildings in differ
Woods Hon Massachusetts, to New orleans.
Only one OF these clocks is kept running at time.
The other Is kept in reserve to be used in case Of
need. Before entering this clOck-room, however
one comes to an apartment where the priests OF
the temple consult the stars. Here is mounted
what is known as the transit instrument, q teIe-
scope most delicately adjusted and mounted, 50
that its sweep is exactly from north to south. In
other words, when it Is accurately adjusted any
star seen on the center OF the field OF the glass
would be exactly on the meridian on which the
telescope stands. The heavens form for the
astronomer great clock, and the time this clock
tells is called Siderial time. II has a day divided
Otwenty -four hours, beginning with the stdertal
noon. This day is three minutes and fifty-six sec
onds shorter than the solar day, that the moons
OF the solar and Of the siderial day coincide but
ONCE YEAR.
Then the siderial noon, measured by solar time
comes later and later every day, until it is whole
day behind when the moons occur together again.
To the observer, then, the celestial sphere may be
Ikened to clock, the stars being the figures on
the dial and the meridian on which the observer
stands with his transit instrument is the hand of
the clock. Owing to the apparent motion of
heavenly bodies the dial OF this clock seems to
move and the hand is motiOnleSs and "a
the dial revOlveS it brings the figures or
stars one after another under the hand
OF the clock When the vernal equinox thus
comes upon the meridian, or under the hand, It is
noon, or the starting point; then the hours come
round until 1t is "a O'Clock or noon again. THE
clock stars are any whose positions have been
established to the fractional part of second by
long course Of observations.
TAKING THE STARS.
Every clear night observations of this celestial
clock are taken. The observer lies in recumbent
position with his eye to the glass; and has resting
upon his bosom a telegraph key AS he IonEs
he sees the object glass divided into spaces
nv eleven fine vertical Inca rolr,,1o, f.+o-